1. Statement of the Technical Field
The inventive arrangements relate to antenna reflectors, and more particularly to antenna reflectors that are lightweight and highly reflective of radio frequency signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
Continuously expanding efforts in current-day communication technology, including satellite-based systems, require high performance signal transmission structures, such as mesh antennas, that may be deployable or non-deployable. Knit mesh materials have been used on high performance reflector designs and their continued use as reflector materials can be expected in the future.
Heightened interest in space reflectors operating at Ka band and higher frequencies has created a need for reflective surfaces that can operate at such frequencies. Conventional mesh materials are not suitable for frequencies above about 30 GHz. The reflectivity of the material diminishes with increasing frequency and undesirable characteristics become more apparent. For example, conventional mesh at frequencies above 30 GHz exhibits different reflectivity with respect to two orthogonal axes (x, y) aligned with the surface of the mesh.
The conventional practice for achieving improved performance at higher frequencies has been to create a finer mesh material. The current practice is to increase the number of openings per inch (OPI) as frequency increases. For example, 10 OPI mesh has been used for frequencies up to about 15 GHz. Even finer mesh materials of 18 OPI have been used to operate at frequencies up to about 30 GHz, albeit with some signal loss. Still, developing higher OPI mesh is expensive, risky and involves significant design challenges.